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writes:

I have a 7-year old A.O.Smith 40 gal water heater. Works fine, but I've
only drained it out once about 4 years ago. Assuming that that water
heaters last about 8-10 years, I have some questions
- how often should I be draining and cleaning it out?
- does regular draining help prolong its life?
- how does one tell that it's ready to break (instead of finding out
when the basement is flooded with hot water)?

Be sure to check your anode rod. Our's rotted away at just about the seven
year mark, and started filling the pipes with little balls of aluminum,
clogging everything. Very annoying.

Water heaters last much longer than 8-10 years. My grandmother has one that is
at least 40 years old, we've had to replace the heating elements a few times.
My dad had one that was ~ 20 years old before it had to be replace.

Dave